Of all places to try and regroup, Sharks in Toronto after 5-2 loss to Winnipeg that left their chances of making the playoffs on life support

EN ROUTE TO TORONTO — There’s a lot of ways to describe that 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, but let’s go with this one: The Sharks played precisely the game they could not afford to play.

And while they say accurately that they still have a shot at the playoffs, good luck finding someone outside the room who would wager a few dollars on that happening without incredible odds leading to a giant payoff. The number crunchers at sportsclubstats.com, for example, give the Sharks a 7 percent chance of making that happen — cutting the previous number almost in half with that one loss.

All in all, from giving up the first goal just 70 seconds into the contest to the taunts of “Who’s your captain?” from the creative crowd inside a rambunctious MTS Center, not the way you want to start a seven-game road trip. (And if you need more details, you can find the game story here .)

So what next?

“We get on the plane, we eat, we review the game, we have a good skate tomorrow, we practice and away we go,” Todd McLellan said immediately after the game. “There’s nothing else we can do. We can sit in a corner and cry if we wanted to, but that’s not going to help us one bit. If something negative happens, we’ve got to park it and move on. We have no other options.”

And what do the players think needs to change for a turnaround to occur?

“Just sharpen up — sharpen up on the power play, sharpen up on the penalty kill,” said Joe Thornton, who continues to produce points — two assists — despite being in the middle of the firestorm that will follow the Sharks from Canadian city to Canadian city. “We’re playing great 5-on-5, though. Tonight was just special teams letting us down and probably cost us the two points.”

Thornton, in case you missed it, did his best to deflect any question concerning last week’s verbal clash with general manager Doug Wilson. Meanwhile, Wilson did his best to convince reporters covering the NHL general managers meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, that he and Thornton are “at a great place” after a phone call that followed the flare-up. You can find one account of what Wilson had to say here at nhl.com.

After years of an uncertain future, the hallowed former home of the city’s NHL franchise was both preserved and put to new use. The rink flooring was raised so that the only seats that remain are those in the upper bowl. The space below has been converted to retail shopping — a grocery store, I think. I got to a handful of games at the old structure and really looking forward to seeing the remodel.

****On to Toronto and the circus. My guess is the media will be out in full force today rather than wait for the day of game morning skate. I only hope my cab right from the airport gets me there in time for the whole thing as they skate at noon EDT and my flight is scheduled to land 58 minutes earlier.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.